Just finished the build and unfortunately already waiting on a new heat-break tube (distorted when clearing a jam) Every machine I have ever built has raised the nozzle when pressing pause- I live on this feature, to help clear pesky strings and check first layers as well as swap filaments.

I am also used to being able to adjust temps mid print- I never go past 245C, but with this printer, if you start a print at say 240 and then attempt to raise or lower the temp, it automatically drops to 235C and locks you out.

I have tried 3 different custom firmware (1.1.3, 1.1.6 and 1.1.8) as well as going through it step by step to set it myself (enable park P2) and still when you press pause it just sits there, and if you try to bump up the temp, it jumps down to 235-

I need bed to drop on pause! I can live with 235C for now, but when I get an all-metal hotend, am I screwed?

How are you "pausing"? On LCD, via computer connection, Octopi? There is an advanced park feature that I've only ever triggered with a filament runout sensor, but sure it could be configured for pausing.Regarding Max temp, I know it's possible cause mine maxes at 245. Think it's something like max_lcd_temp or something similar, and it may be related to printer Max temp set elsewhere. I'll try to look it up more tomorrow if that doesn't help.

By the way, you can buy a 5 or 10 pack of heat breaks from Amazon for under $10, might be worth considering...

so it looks like Marlin sets the lcd max temp to be 15 deg below the max temp limit (found in ultralcd.cpp) defined in configuration.hthe easiest way to make it how you want would be increase HEATER_0_MAXTEMP from 250 to 260, which will allow the lcd controll to reach 245

Oh, I am also having random gantry flyback issues as well as freak-outs where it sits and vibrates and retracts the filament till comes out of the extruder. Going to try to shield the ribbon cables, getting a new LCD soon as well (to get more features)

I can't even complete a 20 minute print at the moment, and I am unable to print VIA PC since the two are separated by about 4 walls.

Attempt ed to re-flash the board, inexplicably the driver was gone, manually selecting the correct driver from adafruit, it was crashing my PC when plugged into the printer.

Long story short, something became corrupted as Cura was also gone from my PC, after manually deleting Com 15, re-installing the drivers I was able to flash the board.

It's now working, still capped at 235C at LCD, but I have finished 2 three hour prints, however, the most current one looks like it flew off to the right again judging by the random string off to the right of the print.

I am going to coat everything in copper in hopes it's noise related, I'm getting a different LCD panel and I'm also adding a Mosfet bed heater. I have suspicions it's a wonky PSU or a bad board, I can hear the fans go up and down just sitting there at idle, like the PSU can't hold a stable voltage, I can probe it to make sure.

I build custom PC's and I know a bad PSU can cause all sorts of strange issues- never cheap on a PSU, especially with $750 GPU's

Activated advance park, drops the print bed, goes to home and I can choose to extrude filament and go back to printing.

Next challenge, find a parts cooler that actually works. I have a CSE that would only cool the nozzle, leading to runaway warnings, I have a fang on now, but I can tell it's going to be crap because the fangs are too far away from the print and too close to the nozzle, I had to bend a fang away accidentally cracking a 4hr print and to top that off, X won't home anymore, so I had to use a end stop offset.

Folgertech one looks good, and printed up, to find out it doesn't work on R2 models.

C'mon man, I'm not good at using fusion 360 for 3D stuff, I designed a couple drone frames but that's just a 2D space.

The guys at Folgertech, If you are seeing this include the full graphic display for $13, and unlock features that everyone is used to having and please for the love of God and all that is holy, release a new parts cooler for your flagship printer- the machine it'self is a frigging tank and seems to have very stable and accurate movement, but those two things are a blunder, Charge another $5-10 and add a better display and a printed part in the box.

Folgertech one looks good, and printed up, to find out it doesn't work on R2 models.

Wyvern:

please for the love of God and all that is holy, release a new parts cooler for your flagship printer

There is no parts cooler (layer fan) released by FT, John does not use them. What are you on about?

None of the kits include a layer fan or even a design for one.

If you are first having issues with firmware (re-flashing fixed the issues), software disappearing, then driver issues with the PC, it leads me to believe the issues are PC related, not printer related. You may also have a failing printer PSU, that may need to be replaced. Remember the price you payed for the kit and where it was assembled, parts are going to be low cost.

When you talk about features, remember how long ago the FT-5 was originally released and that it was the first in the market of it's kind. Every cost is weighed many times to keep the cost of the kit down to get a printer to market at this kind of price and assembled in the US.

I have now been very involved in the process and even after working on manuals for over a year, I had no clue what goes into creating one of these kits at such a low cost. It's amazing how dedicated to getting these cheap kits out to the community John is. It's a huge amount of time and work.

Being able to pause a print without it just sitting there melting your piece is a necessity nowadays, the included screen was $9 the graphic one that unlocks that feature and more was $13.

And again, nowadays having a parts cooler is a necessity, most everyone plays with PLA, and people are obsessed about perfect benchy's and other models without supports (looking at you groot)- a cooler is enough to make or break certain prints, I can tell you as a consumer, I passed up this printer 3 times because it had no parts cooler as small as that may seem.

When people do reviews, they base it on the machine as it sits, not by it's potential, and unfortunately, when you compare this machine to even a cheap chinese ender or the like, test prints may favor the cheap printer just because it had a parts cooler.

You can go online and find all the drama surrounding the lack of parts cooler.

And no, I don't fault the printer with the driver issue, I have suspicions my M.2 SSD is beginning to have segment issues, And I don't have any doubt Folgertech will fix the issues with the defective FT-1 and FT-2 pieces.

I'm glad I bought an FT-5 this is in no way a rant on my issues but rather constructive criticism.

I know about this as I am planning to release a race drone frame soon, I sent one into a racer, and he picked it apart, 3 revisions later and I think I have it where it will work in the market, however, due to demand people want TPU canopy's VS top-plates, I hate canopies, but to make people happy, I've been working on it, slowly, because I still am teaching myself 3D design, I would love to make and share a parts cooler, but I think it's still outside my skillset.

Oh, and just so you know, I believe there is a missing step installing the Y axis cable chain.And one last thought, Since is without a doubt an advanced kit I think it would be wise to offer this machine as a bare kit with only a hotend and heated bed and charge a few bucks less.

Being able to pause a print without it just sitting there melting your piece is a necessity nowadays, the included screen was $9 the graphic one that unlocks that feature and more was $13.

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean about the other LCD "unlocking" any features. The LCD is simply a display and some inputs. There is no processing done with it. It is probably more a case of the config for the other LCD having that enabled, the same options should be available on both models.

Wyvern:

I know about this as I am planning to release a race drone frame soon

I'm not trying to belittle this, but you are comparing a drone frame to a product that includes an 80 page assembly manual.

Wyvern:

Oh, and just so you know, I believe there is a missing step installing the Y axis cable chain.

I'll take a look. Thanks for the heads up.

You request a more expensive LCD in the kit, you ask that a layer fan gets designed, mass produced, and included in the kit. Others want a much more expensive power supply, better wires, more bracing, thicker materials, better controller, better hotend, better bed, ect. The vast majority of the kit owners are only kit owners because of the cost. We can not please everyone and keep the price this low. I'm sorry, but that is reality. It's meant to be a start, and that is exactly what it is. It's a functional kit to get you started.

At least with marlin you are unable to pause a print properly, it pauses dead in it's tracks, you then have to make sure you jog back to the same location you left unless it starts and possibly ends up bouncing against the end stops or prints in mid air. Marlin requires the full graphic LCD for most modern start/pause features.

Unless there is some coding that can be done, a + 4$ part is worth the investment.

It's already a $500 kit, yes, that is pocket change compared to pre-built machines costing thousands and from the sheer number of hardware, alloy and CNC parts that is a feat to still be profitable, I know CNC work and materials is not cheap, but if someone is willing to shell out $500, I'm sure they can stomach the extra $50 for a controller, some motor dampers a bed mosfet and a duct. Even if the end user had to make the duct that's fine by me, and I'm sure others would be on board- at this point, I would pay $10 to have a official one.

The Tronxy X5 or whatever, is a large build core XY costing $330- so this machine in my eyes is not really targeting those consumers as it's considerably more- and for good reason, but like I said, a few extra bucks and you have a machine that can curb stomp anything under $1500 out of the box. Since these kits are packed right in house, you could offer a upgraded unit packed with a few extra goodies for a small premium.

Again I am not bashing Folgertech and anyone associated with the company, I think you guys are doing an amazing job and I am thrilled to have an American designed, cut and packaged machine without shelling out $5000, I just want to share my opinion as a end-user as I want to see this company continue to grow and thrive- I am tired of seeing American companies lose ground to the Chinese cloners out there- I've seen it in the RC market and I don't want to see it in this market.

I think you guys are doing an amazing job and I am thrilled to have an American designed, cut and packaged machine without shelling out $5000, I just want to share my opinion as a end-user as I want to see this company continue to grow and thrive- I am tired of seeing American companies lose ground to the Chinese cloners out there- I've seen it in the RC market and I don't want to see it in this market.

That won't happen anytime soon man. We are leading the market. The Chinese are following us. The FT-5 was the first of it's type and size into this market. Many companies, including Creality followed with their own solutions. The next kit, the FT-6, is going to do that again. It's the first of it's kind in this market and everyone else will follow. Doing this from within the US is difficult, when competing with China, but we manage. There is a huge amount of dealing, redesigning, and cutting costs to do this. Trust me when I say, anything you want in the kit was considered at some point, but left out due to one or many reasons.

It would be completely awesome if I were allowed to design the ultimate kit, without cost restrictions, but the market would not allow it. This very fact has been discussed and dreamed about more than once within the company. We do want the best, but we also have to survive and compete.

That's good and you guys have the right mindset, Aside from the build volume and the fact it's a US company, I really like the overall design of it, dual Y motors and linear rails with ONE Z stepper, I used 2020 linear rail alignment tools I used on my Delta and the circles are perfect and where every other machine you could hear audibly crash into infill and supports, this one perfectly skims over the print with almost no nozzle contact.This was exactly what I was looking for, especially with the direct drive extruder.

The good news is I have got the machine running like a top, Already printed 20+ hours so far, almost non-stop since the re-flash.

But the damned 235C cap is plaguing me, I like to tweak temps on the fly when ambient temps change (it sleeps in the garage) and if I'm above 235C it will bump to a max of 235 if I dare touch the temps- again this is not the machine's problem, rather a setting I cannot find in the marlin firmware.

I will have to check for availability, but I also want to upgrade the machine with 10mm rods and metal corner braces- I plan on making this my last large build printer and want the extract the best out of it.

Well, I would also like to see a large scale delta too, but It looks like the design is getting abandoned due to the very temperamental setup and bed leveling which is a shame because those things print freakishly fast.

so it looks like Marlin sets the lcd max temp to be 15 deg below the max temp limit (found in ultralcd.cpp) defined in configuration.h the easiest way to make it how you want would be increase HEATER_0_MAXTEMP from 250 to 260, which will allow the lcd controll to reach 245 what other machines do you have?